Talent and rental system bottlenecks: a preliminary investigation

The relationship between talent and economic growth is well established but whether jobs pull in talent or talent incubates start-ups is less certain. Here, we assume talent drives growth. In the UK, demographics and educational deficiencies dictate that much talent will continue to be foreign. We focus on foreign post-graduate students as a rich potential source of talent. Overseas students are sensitive to a number of factors (high tuition fees, immigration policy, and discrimination) but, here, we examine the responsiveness of the UK private rental system In the UK, housing shortages drive up rent and, in tight rental markets, letting agent professional standards can slip. So the broad question emerges: does the private rental system nurture talent? Specifically, how responsive is it to the needs of post-graduate students? For an answer, we turn to the literature, analyse secondary data, investigate rental agencies and conduct some local student interviews.